Propeller surface roughness
The purpose of this paper is to endeavour to
Introduction
The importance of fuel economy in present
day ship operation has been demonstrated
many times in recent years. Oil costs have
fluctuated for years and are shown in the
chart below. The requirement to maintain
economical operation is therefore vital.
$150
$100
Sept 96 -
July 16
$50
$0
Notable advances have been made in the
achievement of the highest possible propeller
efficiency to suit required service operating
speeds. In many cases new propellers have
been designed and fitted with success to
meet reduced power service conditions and
these have achieved fuel savings of over 12%
in some cases.
The full effect of these measures will not
continue to be realised if the propeller is not
maintained in a smooth condition. The
potential advantages of maintaining both hull
and propeller smoothness has motivated
considerable theoretical and practical
research over the years and a number of
important papers have been published on the
subject.
identify the types and causes of propeller
roughness, to relate degree of roughness to
increase in power requirement to meet a
given ship speed and thus to additional fuel
consumption and cost, to advise on the steps
which may be taken to ensure that any
increase in fuel costs is restricted to a
minimum, and to illustrate the magnitude of
the financial savings available.
Causes of Roughness
Some degree of roughening of propeller
blade surfaces is inevitable in the normal
course of service. The causes of attack may
be:
a) Marine growth—primary and secondary
b) Impingement attack
c) Corrosion—chemical and/or electro
chemical
d) Cavitation erosion
e) Inexpert maintenance
Marine growth of the animal or vegetable
variety forms on the propeller blade surfaces
while the ship is idle and the propeller is
stationary. In its worst form, i.e. as barnacles,
the resultant loss in propeller efficiency is
very serious. There will also almost certainly
be an increase in power absorption resulting
in a fall in propeller RPM, with a tendency to
overload the machinery. After a period
following re-entry into service the action of
the water may remove barnacles and grass
from the outer parts of the blade, but
examination of used propellers shows that
the surface never regains its original
smoothness. Thus there is always the
 Propeller surface roughness
secondary effect of marine growth to be
suffered until such time as the propeller is
properly cleaned.
Impingement attack usually occurs at the
leading edges and outer parts of the
propeller blades where the circumferential
velocities are highest. The effect on the
blades is a widespread area of surface
roughness of fairly shallow depth. High duty
propeller alloys such as Nikalium or
Superston offer greater resistance to such
attack than Manganese Bronze, Cast Steels
or Cast Irons.
The above applies also to corrosive attacks,
which can sometimes be minimised by the
adoption of properly designed and
maintained cathodic protection systems.
Cavitation erosion is usually concentrated on
localised, sometimes small, areas of the blade
and may be due to cavitation arising from
flow irregularities due to an unfavourable
wake distribution or to the effects of physical
damage to, or incorrect shape of, the blade
leading edges. Cavitation erosion can be very
deep, in some cases leading to complete
wastage of the outer parts of the blades.
The development of surface roughness could
be accelerated if the propeller has been
ground by inexperienced operators, perhaps
using too coarse grinding discs, and if
insufficient attention is paid to the correct
formation of the blade edge shape.
Definition of Roughness
It is important always to define roughness in
the same units preferably using the same
parameters, or at least to be able to relate
the different kinds of measurement.
The International Standards Organisation lay
down requirements for surface finish of
propellers in standard IOS 484 part 1 1981
and has the surface requirement of three
microns Ra for class S finish and six microns
Ra for class 1 finish.
The rate of increase in roughness during
service depends on the nature of the trading
pattern of the ship, e.g. which ports are
visited and the time idle in port, but
measurements after service have shown that,
physical damage apart, the general surface
roughness can easily have increased by 15
microns Ra after 12 months, which, as will
be seen later, will have a significant effect on
the performance.
Methods of Measurement or
Assessment of Surface Roughness
There are a number of surface roughness
measurement instruments on the market,
some of which may only be used under
permanent laboratory conditions. For
propeller work a fully portable machine is
required which will give a rapid surface
 Page 1

roughness measurement. Surface measuring
machines are readily available and are highly
portable and can be used in the workshop or
in drydock.
A more simple method of surface condition
assessment is provided by use of a
comparator gauge produced, with the
assistance of S.M.M., by Rubert & Co. of
Cheadle. This is comprised of six samples of
surface finish ranging from Ra = 1 micron to
Ra = 30 microns. The surfaces represented
are very accurate replicas taken from actual
propellers. The benefits of this comparator
are that it can be carried in the pocket, and a
special version can be used underwater if
required. With practice a reasonably
accurate impression of the surface condition
can be assessed, upon which a decision
whether or not to service the propeller can
be made.
In practice several readings of the propeller
roughness should be taken, and it is
recommended that these should be at 4
radii, approx. 0.3, 0.5, 0.7 and 0.9R, and at
three positions on face and back at each
radius, so that a representative average of
the overall surface condition may be
obtained.
Effect of Propeller Roughness on Ship
Performance
Attempts have been made for many years to
estimate the penalty in power incurred by
increasing propeller roughness. Figure 8
 Page 2
 Propeller surface roughness
shows an estimate based on model
experiments. It was later thought that scale
effects may have led to this estimate being
on the high side and theoretical studies were
made based on vortex theory with increased
drag coefficients accounting for blade surface
roughness. A typical example of this work is
also shown in the diagram and it was
considered that this represented a very
conservative estimate of the effect of
roughness.
Effect of Propeller
Roughness on Ship
Performance
9
8
SMM Europort
% Increase in Power
7 1976
6
Townsin 1983
5
4 Svensen 1982
3
2 DNV 5 blades
1 1980
0 SMM Ships gear
-10 10 30 50 1968
Micro metres
More recently many other experts and
authorities have been investigating the effect
of roughness. Much of this work deals with
the varying effects of different types of
propeller roughness, including the average
slope of the roughness profile and other
texture parameters as distinct from the
average height of the roughness. This is very
 Propeller surface roughness
valuable research but not yet in a form that
can be conveniently applied in the dock
bottom or with the propeller in the water.
The estimates of the effects of roughness
made recently by three investigators have
been transformed to compare directly with
the previous estimates, and are also shown
in the diagram. These were presented in
references 1, 2 and 3. S.M.M. have taken Dr.
Townsin's line as representing a moderately
conservative estimate for the assessment of
cost effectiveness that follows.
It should be appreciated that any of the lines
shown may be reasonable estimates in
particular circumstances as the effect of
roughness will depend on ship speed, RPM,
blade area and other ship and propeller
characteristics as well as the peakiness and
texture of the roughness measured or
assessed as being of a particular Ra value.
Blade Surface Maintenance
Overall blade surface wastage caused by
impingement or corrosion leads to
turbulence which increases the drag of the
blade section resulting in loss of efficiency.
The development of turbulence intensifies
the attack.
lf treated at an early stage the roughness can
be removed by light and fine grinding with
little loss of blade thickness. If maintenance is
delayed the increase in depth of the
roughening will be accelerated. This means
that the loss in efficiency, and thus increase
in fuel consumption, will be greater and
because more grinding will be necessary the
costs of rectification will be increased.
Therefore the rule applying to propeller
surface maintenance should be “little and
often".
It is normally recommended that grinding
and polishing is carried out at every
drydocking, but since the periods between
drydockings are now being extended from
two or three years to five years, it is
necessary to consider servicing the propeller
while the ship is afloat between the discharge
and loading operations. This is feasible
providing the ship may be trimmed so as to
expose the outer parts of the blades from
the water, and adequate floating platforms
and appropriate services can be provided.
This comment applies to any servicing
operation and it is strongly recommended
that work of this nature should always be
placed in the hands of experts who are
sympathetic to the needs of the propeller
designer requiring the maintenance of a "fair"
surface and accurate blade edge formation.
Inexpert grinding may in fact increase the
effective roughness of a surface rather than
reduce it. In addition coarse grinding cuts
provide a more secure base for marine
growth thus further increasing the
possibilities of fouling.
 Page 3
  Propeller surface roughness

Ship type 64 K Bulker 1400 TEU

Engine Diesel Diesel
While it is desirable and cost effective, Average power kW 7870 13975
whenever conditions permit, to polish the Average SFC 110 170
entire surfaces of the blades, when it is not Consumption/day 40 105
possible it is worth remembering that about Days at sea 250 300
75% of the benefit is obtained by polishing Fuel price /t $280 $280
only the outer half of the blades. if the blades
have roughened significantly and drydocking Annual costs $2.8 m $6.76m
is not envisaged in the near future, it is well % savings after polish 3% 3%
worth polishing the tips of the blades if the Annual savings $84,000 $203,000
ship can be trimmed suitably to expose the Daily fuel savings $336 $676
outer half of each blade.

Rate of Return of Polishing Costs

Translation to Fuel and Cost Savings

The effect of the improvement in propulsive

efficiency on the annual fuel consumption The cost of grinding and polishing varies
depends on the following factors:— depending on the condition of the propeller
surface, the situation p of the propeller, (e.g.
1) Average service power
on the shaft, in drydock or afloat, or ashore),
2) Mean specific fuel consumption and the labour charges at the servicing
location. However a worldwide average rate
3) Days at sea per year might be about $250 per square metre of
4) Fuel price per tonne blade surface P area, and assuming that both
face and back of the subject propellers have
been treated at this rate, the costs would be
as follows:—
The figure on the next page shows a diagram
from which it is possible to estimate the
annual fuel cost savings by inserting the
Ship type 64 K Bulker 1400 TEU
actual values of the above variables.
Prop 6900 mm 7000 mm
diameter
Blade area 20 m2 25 m2
Two typical examples, for a bulk carrier of No of blades 4 6
64000 DWT and a 1400 TEU container ship, Cost of $10,000 $12,500
are tabulated below. polishing

 Page 4
 Propeller surface roughness

It is more cost effective to carry out

propeller maintenance at closely spaced
intervals, because the costs will be less and
the rate of wear on the propeller blade
surface will be reduced.

It is very important that the work is

performed by expert labour employed by
propeller manufacturers or their accredited
service agents.

It will be seen that the grinding and polishing

costs in these cases would be returned in 30 REFERENCES
and 19 days of operation respectively even if
only a 3% average improvement in performance
is obtained. Even when allowing shipyard costs
1. R.L. Townsin, W.E.G.E.M.T. 1983 "Bottom
for staging and any special travelling costs to the
Condition and Fuel Conservation”
site, the pay-back time will be so small, and the
rewards so great, that maintenance work of this 2. 0. Fagerjord, Det Norske Veritas, Paper
nature should never be overlooked in the future Series No 80 P022 October 1980
as has frequently happened in the past. "Possibilities of Improving Propulsion
Efficiency"

3. TE. Svensen, l.Mar.E. 1982 "Techno-

Conclusions
Economic Reasons for Selecting Fuel-Saving
Priorities"

Whether or not it is considered necessary in

the long term to change the propeller design
to suit a revised operating condition, there is
no doubt that very significant fuel cost
savings are available for a very small outlay
by grinding and polishing the propeller.

 Page 5